According to a study by Infobank Hellastat published on Wednesday, the Greek hotel industry is expected to continue growing this year as the number of foreign visitors in the country is projected to surpass 18.5 million and tourism revenues to reach 13 billion euros.

The survey said that tourist arrivals in the country’s airports grew 23% in the first three months of 2014, compared with the corresponding period last year.

Infobank Hellastat said that the hotel industry benefited last year from a wave of cancellations in neighboring rival countries that were hit by political and social turmoil (Egypt and Turkey). The number of incoming tourism grew 15.5% last year to 17.9 million, while tourism revenues rose 14.9% to 12 billion euros. Russian tourists almost doubled in 2013 to 1.3 million visitors, raising their market share to 7.5%. German tourists accounted for 12.7% of arrivals (2.27 million or 7.5% up compared to 2012), followed by UK tourists with a 10.3% market share (1.85 million, -3.9%)

Most Greek hotels lowered their prices last year ranking the country as second cheaper country in the Mediterranean, behind Egypt.
The survey was based on the financial results of the 600 largest hotel enterprises in 2012. Turnover fell 5.4% to 2.22 billion euros, while incoming tourism fell 5.5% in that year.